


An Injured Crane in Okinawa

by MADVS



Category: JUDGE EYES: 死神の遺言 | Judgment, 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games)
Genre: Character Study, Depression, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Might Turn To Smut if I Continue This
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24013852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MADVS/pseuds/MADVS
Summary: Yagami finds himself in Okinawa.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	An Injured Crane in Okinawa

**Author's Note:**

> It's not really polished but I had this idea for a while now. Lets see if I actually manage to continue it. I'd like too, and I'd like to write porn Kiryu and Yagami at some point.
> 
> For now. Yagami is a depressed wreck like meeeeee

2008

“What do you mean Yagami is in Okinawa?!”

Like any concerned parental figure, Genda was on the verge of freaking out. There goes the tiny blip of hope that Matsugane had told him before Kaito had even showed up, but Kaito knew that the text Yagami had sent him that morning would’ve been for someone like him. Like a teenager sneaking out to meet up with their friends past curfew, Yagami wouldn’t do something as dumb as to send it to Matsgane or Genda. 

But Kaito cared about Matsugane like a father, so in a sense he cared about Genda too. He couldn’t just ignore Genda’s concerned phone calls. He showed up to his office that morning and ratted Yagami out, because really what could be done at this point.

“He just sent me a text this morning saying he was on the train.” Kaito takes out his phone and quickly pulls up the message, reading it casually, “I’m on a train to Okinawa, need to clear head, don’t tell Matsugane…” Reading it outloud has Kaito raising a brow. 

“Sounds more like a teenager wrote that then a boy graduating law school.” Genda lets out a sigh, “He’s already gone?”

Kaito nods, “Checked his room and everything.” Yagami didn’t have a lot of shit anyway, so it was easy to see that his room was cleaned out. “I asked him how long he was planning on staying, but he didn’t respond.”

Genda just nods his head with an exasperated sigh, as if he was already coming to terms with the situation at hand. “Can’t take your eyes off him for a second.”

“You’re telling me, he lives with me.” Kaito shoves his phone back into his pocket, “He’s been acting strange. Didn’t think too much of it.”

“Strange how?” 

Kaito gives a shrug of his shoulders, “Dunno, he’s been mopier than usual. Usually he just holes himself up in his room.” Yagami described these spells he has, and he always says it just makes him want to curl up in his room and never leave. Certainly never hinting at a complete scenry change from the inside of his tiny room in Kaito’s apartment to Okinawa.

“Doesn’t mean he needs to run off like that.” Genda reaches into his vest pocket, pulling out a box of cigarettes popular among old farts like him. “Well… no use callin’ the cops either. He ain’t a boy no more.”

“What, you’re just gonna leave him be?” Matsugane had said the same thing.

“No point in putting any more pressure on him.” Genda looks at Kaito with a slight smirk, “You wouldn’t know how raisin’ a boy like him works.”

…

Yagami had traveled a bit in his time in law school. To different courts in small towns for cases he was most likely going to lose. Some places were less crowded than the others, and in some cases downright empty compared to the sardine tin streets of Tokyo. It was all crowded, everythig, the courtrooms, the city, the towns, his fucking head. Goddamn there hasn’t been a moment this month where his brain didn’t feel like it was trying to bust out of his skull and run off into the nearest busy highway.

Outbursts could vary. Tantrums would probably be a better word. Sometimes he’ll revert back to his old ways and seem no different than the punk Matsugane found beaten and bloody in the streets. He’ll pick fights in bars and on the street which Kamurocho had no shortage of. Hamura got a kick out of it, that’s for sure, and he’ll make a show out of mopping the floor with Yagami’s ass. Yagami didn’t care how smug Hamura was about being the only one who could beat Yagami down, it gave him a moment to forget about the mind numbing pain in his heart.

Then there’s the times he just doesn’t leave his room. Curled up on his bed with the blinds drawn and door locked, looking like an actor straight out of a shitty antidepressant commercial. He wouldn’t leave for days on end, only getting up when he had to attend class in a sadness induced haze or to take a piss. Kaito tried to help when he could (probably worried he’d come home to a corpse), bringing him bento boxes and asking Yagami if he wanted to go out for a drink. He’d always decline, but damn, Yagami always tried to show Kaito how grateful he is someone cares about him when he finally gets out of it.

Then there’s now. His mental bullshit had brought him to a completely different part of the country. Completely foreign ground. He had never been to Okinawa before but had always wanted to go someday, and ideally he would’ve been in a sound state of mind when he did so. Not wandering around aimlessly in downtown Ryuku with his brain in a self pity fueled fog. He didn’t look like an average tourist, but anyone could tell he didn’t exactly know where he was either.

Not that Yagami cared to know. He’ll go wherever his feet take him. One foot in front of the other. Passing by bars and ice cream shops, stores full of pretty blown glass jewelry and other touristy novelties. Then night time summer air of the city is warm, almost too much. Yagami feels his forehead, armpits, the back of his legs, all start to become slick with sweat as he continues to walk down the street. Suppose he should feel bad using that money Matsugane had so graciously given to him to get here at all, but it at least left him some to buy food and whatnot.

He steps into a bar finally, sighing deeply at the relief the air conditioning gives him. Though the savory scented air of nearby restaurants is too expensive for him to even think of going into is quickly missed. There’s a universal scent that all bars of cigarette ash and people bars seem to have, and much like Tender this place does a decent job of hiding it, but it’s still there.

Even now, drinking seems to be too rich for his blood. He scans the bar before taking another step in, and then he sees the billiards table and his eyes light up a bit. Being depressed, on top of being well, depressing, was boring. Doing nothing but wallowing away in your own self-pity was boring. 

A man is already standing there, the blue LED’s bounce off his silk floral print shirt as he rubs the tip of the pool stick with blue chalk. Yagami feels daring, not caring too much about the consequences of impulsive actions. He taps on the man's back.

He turns quickly, making Yagami almost jump in surprise. His face was fixed into this irritated expression, thick brows furrowed and lips tugged downwards into a perpetual scowl. Yet somehow, Yagami wasn’t off put by it. He didn’t see a hut of malice in there, even if his face was unmistakable from that of an average yakuza.

“Hey, you're pretty good.” He hasn’t watched him take a single shot. “Wanna play a round?”

If Yagami’s intution was wrong, he expected a slug to the face right after. Instead the man just shrugged his shoulder in affirmation, he even went as far as to grab a pool cue for him. “What game are you thinking of?” The man asks as he rounds up all the sunk balls from the pockets.

Yagami thinks about it for a bit. “Uh, I dunno, standard pool? I didn’t think there were any other games.”

His cluelessness earns a brief half smirk from the older man. It fits just as well on his rugged face as that scowl did. Yagami didn’t know what it was about him, but he felt welcome, as if he was looking at Genda or Matsugane, a familiar parental aura exudes from him. Probably has a few kids himself or something. Shit, that floral print shirt with those slacks and brown loafers is almost a dead give away.

And just like any good father having some drinks with his son he explains the rules of 9 ball and how banking works. When he and Kaito play together they did, in fact, play 9 ball, but Yagami never knew the name of that specific kind. The bank shot sees Kiryu the winner,

“You a tourist too?” Yagami asks.

“Nope, I live here.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed from the way you talk.” The ballsclack loudly when Kiryu shoots. They bounce off the walls of the table, with the 2 ball sinking into one of the pockets with a pronounced thud.

Kiryu chuckles, moving around the table, bending over when he finds that perfect spot to strike. “I lived in Tokyo two years ago.”

“No kidding?” Yagami asks. He’s no pool expert but Kiryu’s form is impeccable, from how his arms stretch out over the green and the way his back curves. It almost distracts from his words, “I’m from there too.”

Kiryu shoots again, but doesn’t get anything. Yagami moves around the table to where he thinks he’ll get the best shot. “Kamurocho, to be specific.”

That part seemed to amuse Kiryu, a chuckle that came out in the form of an exhale of air through his nose. Yagami smiles a little bit at that. It was a silent affirmation that maybe he was from there as well, that they could understand each other somewhat. Kiryu had the looks of a weathered yakuza right of the worst city Tokyo had to offer.

“What’s your name?” The man asks.

Yagami finishes his turn, hitting the ball dead on so he can sink one of the striped balls into the corner pocket. He straightens his back and moves around for his next turn, “Yagami Takayuki.” He says simply, “I’m a lawyer, at least I try to be.”

“A lawyer huh?” He examines Yagami briefly, that stone solid expression not breaking for a second. It’s almost intimidating to Yagami. Kiryu’s stare is almost the same way Matsugane scrutinized his suit before he went off on his early days of law school. That being said, it’s oddly… father-like.

“Take it you’re still in school, then?”

He probably said that because he still looks like he’s grade school. Yagami sometimes curses his overly youthful appearance. Genda says he should be thankful for a face like his; to look 20 when you’re 40. Yagami thinks it’s a pain. “Yeah.” Yagami nods, voice cracking with a nervous chuckle. “I’m not gonna bore you with all the details.”

Yagami bends over again, his eyes locking with Kiryu’s briefly, “And you?”

“Kiryu Kazuma.” 

Kazuma? Yagami’s eyes narrow in thought. Nah, there’s no way it could be the Dragon of Dojima, right?

“I run an orphanage.” He continues on, “Right on the shore of Ryuku; Morning Glory.”

“An orphanage, huh?” That kinda quells that theory. That’s probably the last thing he expected the Dragon of Dojima’s new occupation to be, but then again Yagami looks at himself 5 years ago and never would’ve guessed he’d be a wannabe lawyer down the line. Life takes you to some strange places, and the older you are the stranger it gets, he supposes. 

Kiryu just nods, smiling fondly once more. “Your turn.”

“Oh, right…”

Their game continues on. Yagami fucks up more than Kiryu does, but it isn’t enough to make Yagami get all flustered when he was just here for drinks. Having good company wasn’t something he was expecting, but when he saw Kiryu he just felt drawn to him like a magnet. As they played, Yagami tried his best to figure out what that ‘draw’ was. 

Kiryu’s face was rugged and mean, but Yagami quickly learned that he wasn’t annoyed, he just looked like that. At the same time it wasn’t in any way unappealing, as it became easy to ignore once they really started talking. Sometimes Yagami would say something he found amusing and that scowl would crack like a fine geode to show that warm smile that made Yagami feel something warm in his chest.

Kiryu was by no means a boring person himself, telling Yagami about his life when he was around the same age. He talks about living in Japan during the economic boom, how he worked in real estate, how good of a man his boss was, how he wished he could have helped him more. 

“What happened to him?” Yagami asked.

Kiryu bites his lip, he doesn't answer right away. It's like he has to think of the reason he died. “Had troubles with his kidneys.” He says quickly, something someone would do if they were trying to hide the emotion before it shows in their voice. 

Yagami wonders briefly if it was terrible that he didn’t believe him.

Kiryu says the 90’s were uneventful for him, what with the recession and all, so he just talks about running a Host club shortly before arriving here. They were short business ventures, but they paid good money. He talked about a woman he was about to hit it off with but ended up going to America, finding a little bit of humor in how love just doesn’t seem to favor him at all. Not that it bothers him now, he has plenty on his plate with his orphanage.

He talks about his old friend of his, a guy named Nishiki. He says that they grew up together in the same orphanage, how they were like brothers. Scratch that, they were brothers as far as he was concerned. He goes on and on about the dumb things him and Nishiki did together, and for a moment it reminds Yagami of his friendship with Kaito. 

Kiryu said Nishiki would constantly make fun of the suits he wore, and how he’d probably be ripping on the combo of dress pants and floral shirt he was wearing now if he was still with them. 

“Oh.” 

Kiryu was still smiling as he reminisced about the old days.

Their game ends seeing Kiryu as the victor. Yagami puts the que back on the wall rack and looks at Kiryu with a smile. “Well, it was nice talking with you but I uh… I gotta figure out what I’m gonna do for a hotel.”

“Hm?” Kiryu raises a brow. “I thought you were on vacation.” 

“Well, I am.” Yagami suddenly feels like an idiot. He is an idiot. This whole idea made sense to nobody but him, and now he’s damn near close to explaining his situation to a stranger, “I uh… it was a bit of an impulse to come here.”

“Impulse?”

“Yeah, it’s uhm… I just needed to get away, you know.” Yagami looks towards his shoes, suddenly unable to actually look at Kiryu. “You’re from Kamurocho, right? You know how it is there.” As if that has anything to do with his problems, he thinks to himself. “I needed to come here and just… clear my head, you know?”

All of a sudden Yagami feels really stupid. Coming here was such a dumb idea, but he gets like this when he’s depressed. Frantic and impulsive. He doesn’t even have anywhere to sleep tonight and he’s thinking of that just now. He could call up Matsugane and ask for some cash to be put on his card, but that would be pathetic. The man does so much for him as it is, and here he is, making a fool of the second closest thing to a father he has left. 

Running away from his problems like a coward. Just as he did 5 years ago.

Maybe he’ll just sleep in the streets again like he did when he first came to Kamurocho. He’ll find a way home eventually. When Matsugane gets sick of his tantrum and sends him money anyway and he’ll have no choice but to come back and face the consequences of his actions. He’s sure Hamura will have a good laugh at his expense. Hell, he probably already is. Chance are someone told him about it and he’s just cackling about it.

“You don’t have anywhere to stay?”

“Not right now.” Yagami says. He doesn’t want to sound hopeful. Why would a man like him just offer a place to-

“I have room for one more.”

Yagami lifts his head. Kiryu’s smile, and that gleam in his eye is nothing but genuine.

He only nods his head, “Nah it’s fine-”

“I won’t just throw you in the same room with the kids.” Kiryu laughs, “Come on, I’m sure I can get Haruka to make you a plate, too.”

A plate? What? Is he talking about dinner or something? “No I couldn’t. I don’t want to disturb your dinner or anything.”

Maybe Kiryu could see it on him. That he took was an orphan, and not too long ago some piece of street trash with nothing left to live for. Matsugane may have lifted him from that life, but it doesn’t change what he was, what he still sees himself as, the very things in his life that made him come down here in the first place. Yagami furrows his brow and bows his head before, and just like how he would with Matsugane, he quickly just turns away and flees as quick as he can. 

And just like that he’s on his own again, wandering the streets of a completely strange city like a kite without a string. He tried not to look too lost, turning corners without flinching, not caring where it took him. As long as he didn’t end up in the ocean he supposes he was doing something right.

He finds himself inside the market place and makes a place for himself outside the Bubble tea shop. He sips his milk tea and chews on the boba that slips through his straw, lost so deep in thought he couldn’t appreciate the matcha taste at all. 

He could’ve taken up Kiryu’s offer, but unless it’s being beaten into him he cn’t just take the good graces from complete strangers. Call it instinct, a bad habit, or just plain stupidity, but he just hates being pitied.

“Hey buddy.” 

Yagami’s eyes flick to the men next to him. It seems the fashion among street punks stays the same.

“Got any cash on ya?”

**Author's Note:**

> @MADVSC if you want. Or not, don't care. Stan Kimutaku


End file.
